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Tuesday, July 18, 2017

What is a Sync Weather Report

When you do a FamilySync™ you will see a new screen, the Sync Weather Report.The text in this "Weather Report" will most likely change, as this feature has just been turned on for us, the End User. I wasn't going to post this, because it might and will probably change. But what is important is that we just don't click through (Continue Sync) without READING the content of the information that is provided. In this case, the FamilySync feature has a warning about what is going on. The feature is safe, but read the whole message as to that is going on.

Welcome to the Sync Weather Report system.

We created this system to alert you to conditions that may affect your syncing. A orange window like this one means you should experience caution in syncing. A red window means syncing is down or so dangerous that we will not permit you to sync until these conditions improve.

Current Issues

FamilySync has been officially online for just 48 hours now and we see it has some quirks of its own to work out. Here are some notes.

Ancestry Side Changes: You may see changes on the Ancestry side when you didn't make any, especially on your first sync. This is a known issue and is not dangerous. What's happening is FamilySync occassionally picking up "time stamps" that tell us what has changed and reporting them as real changes when obvioiusly they're not. We're working with Ancestry to fix this.

Safe Mode for Ancestry Syncing. When changes are made only on the FTM side, sync speeds are lightening fast compared to TreeSync. But for the moment, syncing Ancestry side changes take place in "Safe Mode' which takes 2-3 times linger than before. While we work with Ancestry to make an Ancstry side sync that is both safe and fast we'd suggest making all your changes on the FTM side.

BUG REPORTING

We are committed to making syncing faster, safer and smarter. If you have issues with syncing please report them using our Bug Reporter system by clicking here.

The important point here is the level of communication that has been added to this feature. This message appears very quickly at the start of the process so that WE can decide if WE want to continue with this process.That last paragraph is probably the most important part. If you see a Bug, Report the Bug. That is the only way they know that there may be a problem to resolve.

Where to ask questions ?

I have long had a Google+ Community that is a place for "conversations" about the Family Tree Maker program. It is a private community, but you can ask to join. Please read the description of the community. I Review YOUR Google+ Profile and looking for hints as to what we have in common, or why you would want to join the community.

It is appropriate to ask questions there, as it is a User to User Community.

Where to get Help

A Blog is not a very helpful place to troubleshoot a problem with Family Tree Maker. There is plenty of help, in the Help Menu of the program that is specific to where you are in the program; In the Help Menu, there is a link to the Family Tree Maker Tech Support website. Please use that link.

Please use these as a resource for problems that you may have with the use of the program.